Should Anti-Seize Or Lubricant Be Used On Lug Nuts?

[Old Moparz]

Simple question really, should anti-seize or lubricant be used on the lug nuts?  

I read mixed results with a google search whether it should be used or not, but wanted to ask for a few more opinions. The problem is with my Wife's Mitsubishi & the nimrods that put the wheels on the car after the last inspection or tire rotation. They cross threaded one & of course tightened it to 98,000 pounds with the impact gun so when I went to remove it the stud snapped off. I ended up having to buy an entire set of lug nuts to replace them since many were all chewed up.

In the past with all my old cars, I simply cleaned up the studs with a wire brush every time I had a wheel off. I sprayed a small amount of WD-40 while I did this & wiped the stud. I know it left a thin coat, but I never had a lug nut loosen up in the 35 years I've done this. Any time after that I never had to gorilla the lug nuts off with a 6 foot long breaker bar.    On my Wife's car today I had to slide a pipe over a 1/2" breaker bar just to crack them loose.  

So what are your thoughts on anti-seize or a lubricant on the studs?

[JB400]

Now you know why I request that my lug nuts be torqued by hand to 100 ft. lbs.  As far as lubricating the threads, I personally don't do it.  I might spray one that is difficult to remove, but that would be the only reason.  You might want to put some anti seize on the hub face though if you're running aluminum wheels.  It keeps them from sticking.

[Aero426]

My tire guy says no.     Do I still use a little anti sieze on wheel studs that see weather and that I won't have apart for a long while?    Yes.     Hand torque and recheck them later.

[Davtona]

To me by torquing / tightening the lug nut you are essentially stretching the nut and stud threads. That is what causes the nut to tighten up. What difference would lubing the threads make as far as the nut coming loose. If anything the lube may give a more accurate torque on the nuts. I don't see how having the threads lubed would cause the nut to loosen up. 

[stripedelete]

I use never-seize on studs and anywhere rim makes contact.  Never had a problem.

On the truck, I also grease the crap out of anything that has to move in order to get the spare tire off.

[Ghoste]

I always do and have for decades.  I also have never had a problem.

[ws23rt]

IMO some kind of lubricant on the threads is better than none. If the threads are dry every time they are torqued they will wear from the scraping action of dry metal to metal. Sometimes that can be balling up of the metal that gets worse as the screw thread turns. --Galling--

Think of screw threads as a simple machine. The idea of clamping parts together is to stretch the fastener like a linear spring and hold it.  Screw threads are a way to do this.

Most bolt thread torque charts refer to values as lubricated or not as it takes more torque to stretch a bolt with dry threads (more friction) than a lubricated one.

In the case of lug nuts they are ment to be used over and over so the simple machine needs some lubrication.

If the clamping force is correct (bolt stretch) the connection will stay put.  A nut can't vibriate loose untill the stretch is released. If the parts being clamped move around or wiggle to perhaps loosen the bolt than they are not tight enough to begin with.

[Slowpoke]

I agree with the hand torque and a film of anti seize method.
When I have a shop change the tires or do anything else that requires the wheels to be removed
I always re-torque the nuts when I get home, have found some extremely over tightened ones that way.

[Ghoste]

FWIW, its my understanding that a lot of factory torque values are determined with lubricant. 

[bill440rt]

I've done it both with & without anti-seize. Haven't had a problem.
As mentioned it does help putting some on the aluminum wheel mating surface. No more kicking the tire loose!

[Old Moparz]

So most have done the same thing that I have done for years (lubricate the lug studs) & nobody seems to have had lug nuts loosen up. I went back out & put a drop of 3 in 1 oil inside the threads of the nuts & put them on. I'll check it later on after some miles of driving to see what happens.

Thanks. 

[Indygenerallee]

I always use anti-seize on studs, and also make sure to use a medium 3M roloc pad to clean the mounting surface  (rim mounting surface and drum or disc mounting surface)

[Cooter]

With the amount of rust and heat generated today on today's cars, no grease is asking for trouble.
Everything works better with lube. How many here oil the door hinges? Trunk/hood??
Door/hood/trunk latches???

[Indygenerallee]

yep, grease door latches and hinges, even go as far as greasing the gas filler door hinge! 

[DougMN]

The only time I ever snapped off lug bolts was when I used antiseize.

[kab69440]

I use Never-Seez on mine.

[will]

Let me guess, Mavis Discount Tire. I had that happen years ago. I won't use thread lubricant on tire studs because my wheels almost came off one night after I did. I think you'd be ok with a layer of aerokroil or some other penetrant.

[Old Moparz]

Let me guess, Mavis Discount Tire. I had that happen years ago. I won't use thread lubricant on tire studs because my wheels almost came off one night after I did. I think you'd be ok with a layer of aerokroil or some other penetrant.

Not Mavis, I won't go there because of their deceitful pricing structure on tires 25 years ago.    A pair of $50 tires on a $100 car cost me more than the car after they charged me separately for mounting, dismounting, balancing, new air, valve stems, disposal fees on old air, valve caps, etc.   

It's a Monro shop, but the huge turnover of employees is a huge red flag. 

I'll recheck the lugs periodically but I never had issues since I started driving in 1980.

[ACUDANUT]

WD40 every time I have to remove the lug nuts.

[John_Kunkel]

Every recent FSM that I've seen contains a warning "do not use oil or grease on lug stud threads".

[69rtse4spd]

Anti-Seize on all my nuts, on everthing, 90 foot pounds, 100 on the trailers, more on the one ton. Never had one fall off, & evertime I have the dealer or tire shop do anything, a bitch to get them off, that's why 90 lbs. 

[MaximRecoil]

Greased threads are always better than dry threads from a functional perspective. However, there may be some cases where there is a specific reason not to grease the threads. There is also the issue with torque specifications; i.e., you have to know if they are for greased or dry threads.

[ws23rt]

I will stick with my opinion that threads that are intended to be used over and over need to be protected from wear.

The FSM may have recommended dry threads but this could well have been for reasons other than the life of the stud threads.

[LaOtto70Charger]

There would be a very good reason to not use a lubricant on the threads if recommended not too.  That means the recommended torque specs from the bolt manufacturers does not consider the decreased coefficient of frictiion from lubrication and the increased stretch and stress in the bolt.  By adding lubrication you are potentially decreasing the life of the stud and making a failure more likely. 

[MaximRecoil]

There would be a very good reason to not use a lubricant on the threads if recommended not too.  That means the recommended torque specs from the bolt manufacturers does not consider the decreased coefficient of frictiion from lubrication and the increased stretch and stress in the bolt.  By adding lubrication you are potentially decreasing the life of the stud and making a failure more likely.  

That's only a problem if you don't adjust the torque specifications (as a general rule of thumb, use 25% less torque for greased threads than dry threads), but there are many variables which affect torque readings (the torque specs usually assume not only dry threads [unless otherwise stated], but also perfectly clean threads in perfect condition, and a perfectly accurate torque wrench). Fortunately, the lug nuts application is pretty tolerant of a wide range of torque; I would guess that most cars on the road didn't have their lugs nuts tightened to any specification with a torque wrench, but rather, were haphazardly zipped on by some random grease monkey with an air impact wrench when it last got a brake job, tire change, etc.